Fight the Treatment Industrial Complex

AFSC-Arizona staff are amazing advocates for prisoners - and as such, are true blessings to our communities. Spend time on their site - lots of resources.

RUSTBELT RADIO

NATIVE RESISTANCE AND THE CARCERAL STATE

Retiring Arizona Prison Watch...

This site was originally started in July 2009 as an independent endeavor to monitor conditions in Arizona's criminal justice system, as well as offer some critical analysis of the prison industrial complex from a prison abolitionist/anarchist's perspective. It was begun in the aftermath of the death of Marcia Powell, a 48 year old AZ state prisoner who was left in an outdoor cage in the desert sun for over four hours while on a 10-minute suicide watch. That was at ASPC-Perryville, in Goodyear, AZ, in May 2009.

Marcia, a seriously mentally ill woman with a meth habit sentenced to the minimum mandatory 27 months in prison for prostitution was already deemed by society as disposable. She was therefore easily ignored by numerous prison officers as she pleaded for water and relief from the sun for four hours. She was ultimately found collapsed in her own feces, with second degree burns on her body, her organs failing, and her body exceeding the 108 degrees the thermometer would record. 16 officers and staff were disciplined for her death, but no one was ever prosecuted for her homicide. Her story is here.

Marcia's death and this blog compelled me to work for the next 5 1/2 years to document and challenge the prison industrial complex in AZ, most specifically as manifested in the Arizona Department of Corrections. I corresponded with over 1,000 prisoners in that time, as well as many of their loved ones, offering all what resources I could find for fighting the AZ DOC themselves - most regarding their health or matters of personal safety.

I also began to work with the survivors of prison violence, as I often heard from the loved ones of the dead, and learned their stories. During that time I memorialized the Ghosts of Jan Brewer - state prisoners under her regime who were lost to neglect, suicide or violence - across the city's sidewalks in large chalk murals. Some of that art is here.

In November 2014 I left Phoenix abruptly to care for my family. By early 2015 I was no longer keeping up this blog site, save occasional posts about a young prisoner in solitary confinement in Arpaio's jail, Jessie B.

I'm deeply grateful to the prisoners who educated, confided in, and encouraged me throughout the years I did this work. My life has been made all the more rich and meaningful by their engagement.

I've linked to some posts about advocating for state prisoner health and safety to the right, as well as other resources for families and friends. If you are in need of additional assistance fighting the prison industrial complex in Arizona - or if you care to offer some aid to the cause - please contact the Phoenix Anarchist Black Cross at PO Box 7241 / Tempe, AZ 85281. collective@phoenixabc.org

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

4StruggleMag is a classic prisoner rights zine put out by and for North American political prisoners and friends. One of the resources they link to is this greatLegal Solidarity Handbook. They also put out alerts about the abusive conditions of confinement being experienced by prisoners due to their political views, as in the case of anti-imperial prisoner Jaan Laaman.

Especially if you're in Arizona, please email the regional director, as noted below, and urge her not to punish Jaan further. The BOP needs to know there are people bearing witness to how they treat our elders - and really, those Communication Management Units need to be banned (that's where they'll dump me, too, no doubt, if they ever get the chance...).

As of today, Monday, June 26, 2017,
Jaan K. Laaman, long-time anti-imperialist political prisoner, is still
locked down in segregation (minimum of 23 hours locked down in a 6×9’
cell). Jaan has been in “segregation” for three months simply for
issuing two statements, a clear violation of free speech and human
rights. He is being threatened with transfer to a Communication
Management Unit (CMU) or Special Management Unit; punishments that are
not appropriate for a prisoner of Jaan’s age, and would be a violation
for practicing free speech.

After a prison hearing on May 4, 2017, Jaan was found to not have
violated prison regulations regarding “misuse of mail,” but was found to
have violated prison regulations concerning “misuse of the telephone,”
for speaking on the phone to a friend and conveying his support of the
“Day Without a Woman Strike” (International Women’s Day, March 8, 2017),
and his feelings about the death of his friend, Attorney Lynne Stewart.
Jaan was sanctioned by losing 10 days good time credit and by loss of
the telephone for 6 months (in addition to the loss of email access
which was imposed without a hearing one year ago). Jaan is currently
appealing this ruling. Meanwhile, Jaan is still in “segregation,” and
still being threatened with transfer to a CMU.

Jaan has no access to news and access to phone calls. It’s
important we send him some letters right now. Send him articles, so that
he gets some world news and messages of solidarity and support. Let the
jailers see that Jaan has support from the community and cannot just be
left in segregation or silenced.

Jaan Karl Laaman #10372-016

USP Tucson

P.O. Box 24550

Tucson, AZ 85734

Background Information

Jaan is imprisoned at United States
Penitentiary (USP) Tucson in Arizona, and is one of the last two
remaining Ohio-7 political prisoners still locked up. The Ohio-7 were
convicted in 1986 of direct actions to protest U.S. support for the
white-supremacist apartheid regime in South Africa, illegal U.S. attacks
on Nicaragua, and repression against advocates for Puerto Rican
self-determination.

Jaan was placed into solitary confinement because of two short messages: one in support of the “Day Without a Woman Strike” (International Women’s Day, March 8, 2017) which was printed in the NYC Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) update, and his “Farewell Thoughts to My Friend, Lynne Stewart”
which was broadcast on Prison Radio. Lynne Stewart, revolutionary
peoples’ lawyer passed away on March 8, 2017. When the NYC ABC magazine
arrived by mail to the prison, Jaan was promptly placed in solitary
confinement. Prison officials charged Jaan with “threatening the
security of the prison” because of these First Amendment protected
statements.

No one should be punished for exercising
their First Amendment Rights. The United States District Court in
Pennsylvania recently ruled in a case involving efforts to censure Mumia
Abu-Jamal:“A past criminal
offense does not extinguish a person’s constitutional right to free
expression. The First Amendment does not disappear at the prison gate.”

Pattern of Increasing Repression

Being placed in segregation is the
latest act of repression by the prison administration, following
increasing actions against Jaan. Over a year ago, the prison shut down Jaan’s
access to email, and they have been censoring him in various ways since
then, including withholding his mail and limiting access to his lawyer.

Jaan was placed in segregation on his birthday and has been there ever since. There
is a growing consensus as to the psychological harm caused by solitary
confinement. In 2011 the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture
concluded that solitary confinement for more than 15 days constitutes
torture and can cause irreversible harmful psychological effects.

Jaan previously wrote about the increasing censorship he has been facing, here. Jaan
has been writing reflections about global events since he was first
captured in 1984, so this level of censorship is certainly something new
and different.